Vandoliers - Life Behind Bars

Most personal album yet is a well-worn cliché within the cliché-addled world of music promotion - but 'Life Behind Bars', the fifth studio album from beloved Texas country-punk ensemble, Vandoliers, brings new meaning to that phrase. This collection of songs offers a window into frontwoman Jenni Rose's journey through addiction and gender dysphoria — a journey that has culminated in her decision to come out as a trans woman while working in the macho worlds of Texas country and punk rock, at a moment when the rights of trans people are more intensely threatened by the day. While the 10 tracks on 'Life Behind Bars' are upbeat and sing-a-long-ready in classic Vandoliers fashion, they're a little more stripped-down and intimate than the band's typical raucous fare. The title track has all the sharp observations and catchy melodies of Vandoliers' best work, but with the added context and depth of Rose's path to self-discovery. The album has more explicitly political tracks as well: "Bible Belt," which Rose wrote about the fear and pain of feeling like an outsider deep in the Fort Worth suburbs, and "Thoughts and Prayers," a darkly funny composition written and sung by Graves about the epidemic of gun violence in America. These are the songs of a band that is fearless and fun, hellbent on spreading joy wherever they go, and who has made a career of pushing boundaries and taking all-comers — of making a bigger, brighter, bolder tent in a musical space that is still too often hidebound by tradition.